Like so many of the delicious twists in the
history of innovations, the dreadnought
acoustic is the product of fate, unexpected
convergences, and a great idea. But it’s also
true that the most popular guitar design in
the world could have just as easily faded into
obscurity—or never happened at all.

In the beginning, the notion of a dreadnought
wasn’t even a dusty rattle in the
halls of Martin’s Nazareth, Pennsylvania,
headquarters. The concept—if not all the
engineering know-how—was the brainchild
of the Oliver Ditson Company, which
operated music stores in Boston and New
York. Ditson wanted to satisfy the clamor
from dance-band guitarists desperate for
more volume, so the company approached
Martin about making their design idea
reality. In 1916, the first dreadnought—a
slotted-headstock, 12-fret instrument bearing
the Ditson brand—made its debut. But
the strangest part of the story is that Martin
remained skeptical, or least relatively indifferent
to the to the guitar’s potential, for
years afterward. There wasn’t a dreadnought
with the Martin name until 1931, and
the 14-fret version we know and recognize
today didn’t see the light of day until 1934.
Needless to say, the gang at Oliver Ditson
was on to something. By the late ’30s, the
dreadnought was one of Martin’s most successful
instruments. And in the decades
to come, artists from Gene Autry and Bill
Monroe to Neil Young and Jimmy Page
would help make the dreadnought among
the most popular and ubiquitous musical
instruments in the world.

The five dreadnoughts reviewed here are
all still very much the children of that first
Martin-built Ditson. And their sonic merits,
while varied, are rooted in the same qualities
sought in that very first model—volume,
projection, and authority. Of course, there’s
a lot more to a dread than sounding big,
and one of the coolest things about the five
dreads profiled here—which can all be had
for between $750 and a grand—is the range
of feel and tone color among them.

Guild D-150
Guild built its first dreadnoughts in the
early ’60s—just in time for a cultural
earthquake that would find half the kids
in America clamoring for a 6-string.
Fortunately for Guild, the company nailed
its first attempts. The mahogany-and-spruce
D-40 and rosewood-and-spruce D-50 were
beautiful, well-built, and balanced guitars,
and they became fixtures on the ’60s folk
and rock scenes. The D-150 reviewed here
is a Chinese-built interpretation of the
legendary D-50, and it does a noble job of
delivering on the sonic promise of the D-50
at a more accessible price.

At a fast glance, you’d be hard-pressed
to tell the difference between the D-150
and its US-built brother. The D-150 has a
black pickguard instead of the D-50’s faux
tortoiseshell guard, and the D-150’s bridge
is rosewood rather than ebony. The D-150
also lacks some fancy touches, like a headstock
inlay. Overall, though, the D-150 is a
carefully crafted guitar. Bracing and kerfing
are all tidy and relatively clean, save for a
few very small glue smudges on the back
bracing. There’s also some uneven finish
work at the end of the fretboard closest to
the soundhole. The materials all have the
look of first-rate stuff, however. The solid
rosewood on the back and sides is dark
and rich in appearance, and the spruce top
has a tight, even grain pattern. A motherof-
pearl rosette adds a deluxe touch to the
Guild’s otherwise streamlined and elegant
outward demeanor.

Ratings

Pros:
great midrange projection and headroom
for loud strumming and picking. nice materials.

Cons:
lacks just a little on the bottom end.
sounds a little stiff at times.

The D-150 feels great in hand. The
satin-finished mahogany neck, 1.68" string
spacing at the nut, and medium action
combine to make barre chords feel natural
and easy right up to the 12th fret, although
slightly lower action might make the guitar
a little better suited for bluegrass and country
flatpicking and fingerstyle. However, for
heavy strumming, folk arpeggios, and deepdigging
blues lines, the guitar still feels very
responsive and dynamic.

Sonically speaking, the D-150 fills all the
traditional dreadnoughts roles very well. It’s
a big-sounding guitar when you strum with
a heavy flatpick, with a ton of headroom
for Townshend-style aggression, and a loud,
warm, full-spectrum tone that kicks with
low-mid and midrange content that gives
single-note solos a cutting and authoritative
voice. If the D-150 lacks anything, it’s the
truly robust low end that a lot of players
look for in a dread. However,
getting it may just be a
matter of being patient,
for there’s a pronounced
new-guitar stiffness in
the D-150 that suggests
it will open up
and breathe as it ages—as
is often the case with all solidwood
acoustics.

With just enough finery to make it feel
special, and a design restraint that enhances
the beautiful balance of body lines, the
D-150 is a very complete dread. Fast flatpickers
will long for lower action, though
the guitar as it’s set up here makes it a great
vehicle for heavier Neil Young-style strumming.
And at right around $750 on the
street, it’s a great way to get a well-rounded
and, at times, refined dread for a fair price.

Gear Editor Charles Saufley is a career writer and editor from San Francisco. Before joining Premier Guitar he served as Associate Editor at Acoustic Guitar magazine (where his predecessor was esteemed PG Editor in Chief Shawn Hammond.) He became music obsessed not long after birth—thanks in no small part to older siblings who ‘babysat’ him with a set of headphones, Revolver, and Sticky Fingers. Charles still spends a lot of time listening to records. And his many git-fiddle heroes include Roger McGuinn, Pete Townshend, Tom Verlaine, Eddie Phillips, Nokie Edwards, Gabor Szabo, John Cippolina, Randy Holden, Erkin Koray, Greg Ginn, and Sonic Youth.

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